Ok - so every once and a while, things get busy at work, so I start to contemplate just ordering by the case and alleviate any need for me to go figure hunting...

So I took a look at Entertainment Earth and reviewed the Wave 3, Wave 4 and Wave 4 Rev 1 cases they have available for pre-order.

My collecting habits have maintained that I get at least three of every Vintage figure - one to keep MOC and two to open. I'm not entirely sure how I got to this level, but I digress...

So imagine my disgust to learn that there is NO WAY to order a mix of cases and achieve my desired figure counts, w/o ordering each assortment 3-times over. Not to mention the fact that three of the figures I want more than 3 of each are only available in ONE assortment (501st Trooper, Imperial Navy Commander & Darth Malgus)

Why do these case assortments have to suck so bad? Why is the Imperial Navy Commander not a carry-forward figure to either Wave 4 assortment? Why isn't Darth Malgus? Why isn't the 501st available in BOTH Wave 4 revisions? And for the love of god, why is Qui-Gon Jinn available in two of these three cases?!?!!?

Not to mention that the Naboo Royal Guard is pegwarming EVERYWHERE yet he appears once again in the Wave 3 case, along with Anakin, Darth Sidious, Darth Maul and the Battledroid - four more figures that are still easy to find if you look hard enough.

Even if I double up on Wave 3 and Wave 4 Rev 1 - that will mean, I still need to find:1x Aayla Secura3x 501st Trooper3x Imperial Navy Trooper2x Darth Malgus1x Wedge Antilles

AND end up with a whopping 21 figures that I DO NOT NEED! That is 21 out of 60 - 35%!!! Junk I don't need. Now if I want to be generous and keep the Battledroids and Naboo Royal Guards just to add to my armies - that does take the number down to 17 - but that's still a ridiculously high number of figures I don't need. Oh - and did I mention that I'm assuming that the Gamorrean Guard, Bespin Han, Barriss Offee, RFT, Bom, Fordo and Logray figures are all going to be coming with the new cardback style, making them variants that I'm "okay" with? So if they come out completely un-changed, then that adds an additional 6 figures I do not need (I'm okay with getting another Gamorrean Guard to open).

The 501st Trooper is just ridiculous - that is a freakin' repaint - why isn't he in both cases? And there is no excuse for Darth Malgus and the Imperial Navy Trooper for not being carried forward into the Wave 4 Rev 1 case along with their fellow wave-mates.

Hasbro complains about collector atrophy and lack of sales in the line, but they have clearly stacked the deck to ensure that the line fails and once again, just like we saw last year with the AOTC Obi-Wan figures stacking up, we'll end up with pegs clogged of TPM Qui-Gons by the time the year is out.

« Last Edit: April 5, 2012, 02:06 PM by Pete_Fett »

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

I read in couple places DePriest is no longer in charge of the brand. Is this accurate? At the New York Comic Con, four Hasbro employees I spoke to openly criticized him. Perhaps whoever is in charge now can bring a little common sense to how these cases are packed out because, as Pete correctly points out, they're ridiculous.

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Co-founder and contributor, PhGeek.com"Dissertations in geek culture"Podcasts every Wednesday on iTunes or http://phgeek.podbean.com/Like us on Facebook, follow on Twitter @Geekswillrise

I read in couple places DePriest is no longer in charge of the brand. Is this accurate? At the New York Comic Con, four Hasbro employees I spoke to openly criticized him. Perhaps whoever is in charge now can bring a little common sense to how these cases are packed out because, as Pete correctly points out, they're ridiculous.

Really? They openly criticized him?

I've never met the guy, but for some reason a lot of his statements have rubbed me the wrong way. I've also heard some very bad things about how he ran GI JOE in the past... I don't know what's true and what's not, because when you're in a position like his, you're a target for criticism. But from what I've read about him hasn't impressed me much.

The case assortments are mystifying. It could also be the market. The reality is a lot of these collector focused figures don't sell through the way they used to, which leads to clogged pegs when Hasbro's forecasts - and the assortments have to be based on forecasts - don't pan out. Hasbro's lead time to adjust assortments is fairly large, so we don't get immediate revisions and the market can't correct itself.

That being said, part of it is how they plan these as well. A collector based line should see two of everybody in each case, on new figures.

I was pondering ordering one this week myself, and looked, and it's tough to justify them. Even thinking about customizing/army building fodder, I was just thinking that the ratios are so dismal towards what I personally want... Too much TPM, which goes to show they were banking heavily on TPM3D having a nice long run at theaters.

Well, I guess you roll the dice sometimes... But yeah, that sucks. At this point a case shouldn't have a single TPM carry-over. I've seen every figure many times now, including Maul who I honestly thought would hang in there as popular regardless of the film's ultimately outcome.

I'm still debating on a case... Know which one I'd probably buy but yeah, not sure.

That case with ALL of Wave 7 kills me too. I want the newer figures in it, but I would only want an RFT (of course) out of Wave 7, and maybe Bespin Han. Otherwise, I got what I wanted when I bought a case of that last year. As has been said, at least spread stuff out.

I tend to think the disasterous incompotent and insulting distrobution problems come from terrible case assortments peg locking he store inventory system as soon as enough cases move through to leave the inevitable pile up of main character repacks ( that we all have a dozen times each) filling the pegs.

I Swear Hasbro think that 80% of their business is impulse buys from non collectors or casual fane and that 20% is from us when its pretty clear of you follow what sells and what doesnt, that they have it almost exactly backwards

I get the impression stores order less than years ago, especially vintage. So many places there's nothing in stock, maybe less than 10 figures. And Super Walmarts, that you'd think would be loaded, might have 2 cases worth if that.

I read in couple places DePriest is no longer in charge of the brand. Is this accurate? At the New York Comic Con, four Hasbro employees I spoke to openly criticized him. Perhaps whoever is in charge now can bring a little common sense to how these cases are packed out because, as Pete correctly points out, they're ridiculous.

Really? They openly criticized him?

I've never met the guy, but for some reason a lot of his statements have rubbed me the wrong way. I've also heard some very bad things about how he ran GI JOE in the past... I don't know what's true and what's not, because when you're in a position like his, you're a target for criticism. But from what I've read about him hasn't impressed me much.

When they refer to the boss as "GI JOE," it's all downhill from there.

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Co-founder and contributor, PhGeek.com"Dissertations in geek culture"Podcasts every Wednesday on iTunes or http://phgeek.podbean.com/Like us on Facebook, follow on Twitter @Geekswillrise

That's the funny thing... Is it the cases causing distribution woes, or are distribution woes a problem themselves and the case assortments have nothing to do with it?

I do see a lot less on pegs though, and others have noticed that.

K-Mart has always generally gotten one or two cases of a wave, and then they'll sit, and maybe the next, and so on. They're often later too, than what other stores get, but KM has always gotten me just about every wave that rolls out the door at least once. Kind of funny.

That said though, thigns are kind of in the pooper... I think they're losing kid money, and I know they're losing collector money. Again, I think the line needs scaled back, if not the discussed entirely new/different direction reboot for the line, in another thread.

Case assortments suck this year though, and suck hard. That TPM wave is haunting this line right now. Mys tores don't have much on the pegs, but what is there isn't going anywhere, and it's an eclectic mix of dumb **** like Neimoidians and Pod Racers, as well as main guys, and I see the Naboo dude and way too many battledroids. Not all stores have exactly the same stuff, but multiple stores have a relatively consistent stock. I'd say Amidala, Quadrinaros, Dofine, & Battledroid are the most consistent among all stores.

Either way though, I'm in the same boat of not reall wanting to pull the trigger on a case buy right now, but at this stage, I may be compelled to and just hope I can unload the extras somehow.

Either way though, I'm in the same boat of not really wanting to pull the trigger on a case buy right now, but at this stage, I may be compelled to and just hope I can unload the extras somehow.

That's been my dilema, too. But I can't get myself to do it. The extras all tend to be stuff that is either readily available at retail, or extras that most of us around here seem to want to get rid of anyways. I can't afford to get stuck with a bunch of extras I don't want and can't get rid of. I'll probably just continue to try find things at retail when I'm out and pick up anything else online individually.

wave 4 rev 1 isnt so bad for me. iirc, the only figures I will need to track down are Malgus and the Imperial Navy Commander. I will only need to unload Gui-Gon, Ratts, and probably Jedi Origin Luke. I am sure I will at least find something at Target I can exchange for those 3 that I would take, though not need, more than those 3.

so, unless things get better at retail real fast, this may finally be the first case of SW I have ordered. I know I have pre-ordered other cases before, but I have always ended up cancelling because I get lucky at retail. I am not thinking this will happen here, but who knows?